Error 1402:Could not open key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE32\...

[Guest]

I am trying very hard to Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.1.0 but I am continually stopped by this error which says I have insufficient access rights to delete the Registry entry. I was originally trying to install the latest upgrade.

1) I have looked through the Knowledge Base and NO solutions are there.

2) I have scoured the Forums and no one has found a solution.

3) From searching these places and the web, it appears that many people have the same problem.

4) To this point Adobe's Support has been noting short of utterly Abysmal. All they say to do is: go to Control Panel and uninstall it. (OR ask for a Support Contract which is unacceptable for this issue)

5) I can only hope that nothing goes wrong with my currently installed version because it is very apparent that I will never be able re-install or upgrade it.

6) BTW, I have tried setting the Permissions on this key in the Registry ( with backups of course) for SYSTEM and ADMINISTRATORS to FULL and that does not help.

So Adobe Support, if by freak luck, you may be reading this,  I would really like you to figure this out and provide a working solution.

Any script which will clean out Adobe Reader completely would be great.

For the record I am running Vista 64bit SP2 on a system with a Quad9550 cpu and 8BG of ram.

I find it curious that the key mentioned is "....MACHINE32\...."  but there are NO entries at all like that in my Registry, only ...MACHINE\...  That may have something to do with this issue.

PLEASE, thanks in advance for anyone's advice but I want to hear only from people who have discovered a proven working solution: i.e no guess work.

Thanks

Jim Calvert

[MichaelKazlow]

Use the Microsoft Installer Cleanup tool.

[peterblaise]

I'm having the same problem -- Win Vista 64 Ultimate - but the advice to use

Windows Installer Cleanup Utility package

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/9/d/e9d80355-7ab4-45b8-80e8-983a48d5e1bd/msicuu2.exe

does not resolve the problem, though it does allow successful removal of Adobe Acrobat Install from the computer's installed programs list.  On subsequent attempt to reinstall Acrobat Reader v910, same problem: the installer calls for a non-existant key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE32

Any resolution? Or do we wait for Acrobat v10, or revert to Win XP (which is thebest poromise for full function at the moment)?

Peter Blaise

[CarlHon]

Don’t know if you have solved the problem yet but I had the same error today.

It turns out that the HKEY location is incorrect in the error message and the key does exist.

However the issue is that ALL owner rights had been removed from 3 keys each with 4 sub keys entries in the registry, so nothing could access these keys in any way. If you don't add an owner first then no matter what you try you will not be able to change permissions.

If you search for the first 7 or 8 characters in the Key you will soon find it, IE (C523F39F).

When found just selecting a sub key will bring up an access denied error as you can not even view it.

Right Click a sub key and select permissions, go to advanced and select the owner tab. Select a new owner from the lower box and click apply. Go back to the first screen and select “Add”, “Advanced”, “Find Now” and select the same user account.   Back on the first screen click, Full control permission and apply. You can now delete one of the sub keys. I had to do this with each sub key as they would not inherit.

When you try to install ADOBE again you will most likely get the same error but with another key to search for. After the 3^rd time ADOBE reader installed and worked perfectly on my Vista 64.

[Berdman21]

The problem is that the error calls for "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE32" Which does not exist.

The string in the registry that redirects to this is as follows:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node

Once you get to this directory you just go to whatever string it called for follwing the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE32.

If you get to the currentversion\run\optionalcomponents error and the subdirectories \MSFS,\MAPI\ and \IMAIL do not show, right click on optional components and add a new key. They will then show up and you can change the permissions.

Hope this helps.

[Friktion12]

Hi, I'm getting a similar 1402 error except it's permissions for the key: UNKNOWN\components\(long string of letters and numbers)\(long string of letters and numbers).

This keeps me from applying the update, uninstalling, installing, or repairing Adobe Reader 9.3.1.  I checked in my registry but there is no pathway that resembles this.  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ and then where should I be looking?  Under Adobe I just have Adobe Reader, Adobe ARM, Installer, and Repair and nothing within those is anything like what I'm looking for.  I tried doing searches for the first couple of letters/numbers in the error string, but the results come up empty.

This isn't a serious issue, but it is annoying not being able to delete Adobe Reader (without using the windows cleaner) or updating it.  When I got rid of Adobe Reader with the cleaning tool, the adobe folder still remained in programs(x86) and I could not manually delete that because I did not have permissions.  Obviously I am on an Admin account and I have checked and rechecked all permissions.

Any pointers to helping make this error go away so I can update, uninstall, or install at peace?

I am running W7 Premium 64bit.

Thanks.

[Guest]

I had exactly the same problem.  Started with trying to install the latest update which gave me a 1500 error which said repair the reader, tried to do that and ended up with an error that started exactly as yours does.  I tried looking for the path to no avail as well.  The jwcalvert solution did work for me but only if I went about the search using keys supplied. I actually took a screen shot so I'd have the information available. Once I found the first key, Regedit would show the subkeys below it and I was able to find the subkey in question there.  When I clicked on Permissions as calvert says I found no owner.  I went through the steps he recommends and was able to assign one.  Ran the repair again and it failed again with a different set of keys.  Started searching from the first key and it never found it.  Since the keys seems close together I manually tried to find the next keys which I did but they had an owner.  Ran the repair and got the same error again.  This time I did the search starting at the top of the hierarchy (Computer) and now when it found the key like the first time it was missing an owner so apparently the key must exist in multiple places.  Went through the procedure again and this time when I ran the repair it ran to completion.

My concern like yours was that the uninstall failed as well as the repair so I felt like was stuck.  I'm runnning W7 - Home Premium 64 bit and was using Reader 9.3.1

[Friktion12]

Wait, I'm confused.  What solution?  What did you type in search in order to find the keys?

[Guest]

My mistake.  I looked at the wrong name.  It's the post 3 above yours in the larger type written by CarlHon.  It was in that post that I found the solution that I used to fix my problem.

You wrote:  "UNKNOWN\components\(long string of letters and numbers)\(long string of  letters and numbers"

I used the the first 8-10 letters/numbers from your first set of "long string of letters and numbers" in the search.  If you're using Regedit then I saw was the first "key" which matched the search criteria and below it, indented, were the sub-keys which is where the problem is.  One of the sub-keys should match the second long string of letters and numbers.  It was in this sub-key (that's what I'm calling it) that I found the problem i.e. no owner.  I then went through the process CarlHon described to assign an owner.

[pwillener]

For all who still experience 1402 errors, try the new Microsoft Fixit Center; it is still beta, but probably worth a try.

Feedback appreciated.

[Friktion12]

Definitely an interesting and potentially helpful tool, however it did nothing to resolve this issue.  It did not find any errors with Windows Updater and the only fix it could apply to Adobe was to change the compatibility mode.  Interesting note though:

I haven't been able to apply a Microsoft Office 2007 update.  I would get an error and it would fail whether through the updater or manual install.  I tried to repair my Office 2007 through add/remove programs and the repair process couldn't complete because... you guessed it, a 1402 error!  Similar registry key too - UNKNOWN\components\string of letters and numbers.  The string was the only thing different.

I was thinking of maybe uninstalling and reinstalling Office 2007, but if it's anything like Adobe, I will get that error on both uninstall and reinstall.

[DonnaLG]

No matter what I do to install the update I get the 1402 error message.  You can't uninstall and re-install - same error

code.  NOTHING WORKS!

ADOBE - FIX THIS!

[pwillener]

DonnaLG wrote:

ADOBE - FIX THIS!

First, this is a user-to-user forum; you are not addressing Adobe here.

Second, this is not a problem with he Adobe installer, but a permission issue in your registry - especially in the view that you posted a similar problem in the Flash Player forum.

Third, have you tried all the solutions offered in this topic?

[Guest]

Please see:

Error message when installing, modifying or repairing Adobe Reader

[Guest]

I know this is not an answer to the problem, but is a work around until there is a solution.

I went back through my old utility discs and tried several different versions with no avail...

When I got to 2006 and found Adobe Reader 7.08.

This installed perfectly and is running quiet well.

There will be a couple of screens about known errors, but you can overide them and continue.

The only problem that I have expereinced is that changes to preferences may or may not work.

NOT AN ANSWER BUT IS WORKABLE.

I also can use NITRO PDF instead.

Bob T.

[brainstewn]

Hi Jim

I figured out that the key hindering your from moving forward doesn't have an owner or authorized user.  Because of this it cannot be deleted or changed.  I had to search the registry for this key 68AB67CA3301004F7706000000000040 and perf     orm the step in the video several times until the afformentioned key had an owner and Adminstrators were authorized to make changes.

[Christine_W]

I have a Windows 7 computer with Adobe Acrobat X.

I recently got this error when trying to install Adobe PDF Maker:

Error 1402. Could not open key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE32\Software\Classes\.pdf\Persistent Handler. 

Verify that you have sufficient access to that key, or contact your support personnel.

I did the following to fix it:

1. Click the Start button.
2. Type regedit in the search box and press Enter.
3. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.pdf\Persistent Handler
4. Right-click on PersistentHandler and select Permissions.
5. In the dialog box that opens, click the Advanced button.
6. Another dialog box opens on the Permissions tab.  Check the box next to Include inheritable permissions from this object's parent.
7. Click OK twice to close the dialog boxes.

[mapperboy]

I too was having big trouble with Adobe Reader XI updates after I refreshed (due to some other mysterious and unsolvable d3d10warp.dll version conflicts) my Win 7 Pro x64 with an in-place non-destructive reinstall.

Adobe updater was looking for the non-existent HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE32 reg key.  Not sure it that erroneous reference that Adobe updater/uninstaller was making was caused by my refresh just seemed coincidental.

I had NO LUCK at all with the various Registry tweaks and mods that are floating around the web...

However, Surprise-Surprise (for once!) the Microsoft Install/Uninstall fix-it tool found here: Fix problems that programs cannot be installed or uninstalled -actually fixed the problem in the Registry. Who knows, sometimes MS help stuff actually works!

The MS tool actually sucessfully uninstalled Reader XI (the prompts don't actually say that the tool is going to attempt an uninstall, they ask if you are 'having problems' uninstalling -whatever). After the tool completed, I was able to grab from Adobe and reinstall with Reader DC (which apparently means Document Cloud access version).  We'll have to see if that version has any gotcha's for my use, I'm not that enamored with Cloud based Adobe stuff yet.